Hambantota, Sep 20: South Africa produced a clinical performance to knock Zimbabwe out of the ICC World Twenty20 with a comfortable 10-wicket victory in a lop-sided Group C match here today.
Zimbabwe crashed out of the event after slumping to their second defeat in the tournament having lost to hosts Sri Lanka by 82 runs in the tournament opener.
As expected, both Sri Lanka and South Africa, who face each other in their last group match here on Saturday, have progressed to the Super Eight stages from the pool.
Opening their campaign in tournament, South Africa first restricted Zimbabwe to 93 for eight after inviting the opposition to bat and then piled up the runs without breaking a sweat.
Richard Levi smashed his way to a 44-ball unbeaten 50 while Hashim Amla remained not out on 32 from 33 balls as South Africa chased down the target with 44 balls to spare.
With South Africa just needing six to win, Zimbabwe squandered the only chance of picking up a wicket the got in the match when Vusi Sibanda dropped Amla at point of Kyle Jarvis.
Earlier, Jacques Kallis stole the show with four wickets as a pace inspired South Africa restricted minnows Zimbabwe to the paltry total.
Kallis utilised the lively pitch at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium to perfection and scalped four wickets for 15 runs to rock the Zimbabwe innings.
He was ably supported by pace duo of Morne Morkel (2/16) and Dale Steyn (1/9), who produced a lethal opening spell to dismantle the Zimbabweans.
